The Big Bear — Bordalo II, Turin
Bordalo II · A bear assembled from discarded materials, 2016 · Teatro Colosseo, Via Giorgio Bidone, San Salvario, Turin, Italy
Photo from the Street Art Utopia archive; photographer and capture date unrecorded. Artwork: Bordalo II, 2016. Full photograph shown; resized for display.
Bordalo II assembled The Big Bear from discarded materials on the side wall of Teatro Colosseo in Turin in 2016. MuseoTorino · Arte per strada Torino, updated Oct 2024 Checked It was made in connection with his solo show Decomposed at Square23 Gallery. La Stampa, 12 Dec 2016 · Square23 Gallery, Walls Checked The bear shares the wall with a separate work: a chalkboard where passers-by write an idea or a thought in coloured chalk. MuseoTorino Checked
4 things to know
- A bear built from wasteMuseoTorino records The Big Bear as an assemblage of discarded materials, and explains that Bordalo II depicts nature using the waste involved in its destruction. MuseoTorino Checked
- The chalkboard is a separate workThe writing surface below the bear is Andrea Spoto’s Before I Die… Black Dream Wall, based on Candy Chang’s project. Passers-by add their thoughts with coloured chalk. MuseoTorino Checked
- A gallery show that spilled onto the streetSquare23 Gallery lists the theatre bear as a collaboration for Bordalo II’s solo exhibition, and La Stampa tied it to Decomposed in December 2016. Square23 Gallery, Walls · La Stampa, 12 Dec 2016 Checked
- Look on the Via Bidone sideTurin’s street-art inventory places the work at Via Bidone 30 in San Salvario and gives its coordinates: the side wall of Teatro Colosseo. Arte per strada Torino, updated Oct 2024 Checked
Check-in guide
- 📍
- Via Giorgio Bidone 30, on the side wall of Teatro Colosseo, San Salvario, Turin. Arte per strada Torino, updated Oct 2024 · TOlove, 19 Jan 2025 Checked
- 🐻
- The latest dated account we found is a local guide from 19 January 2025 with photographs of the bear in place. We have not confirmed its condition since. TOlove, 19 Jan 2025 Reported
Sightings
- 201612 Dec
Bear on the theatre wall · La Stampa
- 2017
Photos by Roberto Cortese · MuseoTorino
- 201710 Jul
Photos by Francesca Lai · la Repubblica
- 2024Oct
Inventory updated · Arte per strada
- 202519 Jan
Guide with photos · TOlove
Every stamp links to its source. Green stamps are dated sources that show the bear in place: MuseoTorino’s photographs dated 2017, la Repubblica’s photo story of 10 July 2017 and TOlove’s guide of 19 January 2025, whose undated photographs show the bear on the wall and which sets the status stamp. Amber stamps are reports and records: La Stampa in 2016 and the inventory update of October 2024 (an update date, not a photo date).
On the record
Bordalo II: la street art ambientalista
“A Torino ha creato un grande orso lungo il muro del Teatro Colosseo”
In Turin he created a large bear along the wall of Teatro Colosseo.
Torino, gli orsi di Bordalo scalano i muri di San Salvario
“Il primo orso è cresciuto sui muri esterni del Colosseo”
The first bear grew on the outside walls of the Colosseo.
The facts
- Title
- The Big Bear. Arte per strada Torino, updated Oct 2024 Checked
- Artist
- Bordalo II. Arte per strada Torino, updated Oct 2024 · MuseoTorino · La Stampa, 12 Dec 2016 Checked
- Material
- Assembled discarded materials. MuseoTorino Checked
- Place
- Via Giorgio Bidone side of Teatro Colosseo, San Salvario, Turin, Italy. MuseoTorino · Arte per strada Torino, updated Oct 2024 Checked
- Coordinates
- 45.052133, 7.679805, as given by the street-art inventory. Arte per strada Torino, updated Oct 2024 Reported
- Project
- Made with Square23 Gallery in connection with Bordalo II’s solo show Decomposed. Square23 Gallery, Walls · La Stampa, 12 Dec 2016 Checked
- Next to it
- Andrea Spoto’s Before I Die… Black Dream Wall, a separate participatory chalkboard. MuseoTorino Checked
- Status
- Photographed in place in a guide published 19 January 2025; present condition not independently checked. TOlove, 19 Jan 2025 Reported
- Our photo
- The SAU post uses this photograph from our media library; photographer not recorded. Street Art Utopia, 19 Oct 2026 Checked
Related
- They Almost Moved (8 Photos): the SAU collection with the bear
- Bordalo II Builds Animals From Trash (30 Photos): more Big Trash Animals on SAU
- Half Half Koala — Bordalo II, Lisbon: another Bordalo II Artwork File
All sources (7)
Records and the gallery
- MuseoTorino: The Big Bear. City museum entry: 2016, waste materials, the theatre wall, the separate chalkboard, photographs by Roberto Cortese.
- Arte per strada Torino: Bordalo II, The Big Bear, updated October 2024. Title, 2016, Via Bidone 30, San Salvario, coordinates.
- Square23 Gallery: Walls. The Teatro Colosseo bear as a collaboration for Bordalo II’s solo show.
Press and guides
- La Stampa: “Bordalo II: la street art ambientalista”, 12 December 2016. The large bear on the Teatro Colosseo wall; Decomposed.
- la Repubblica Torino: “Torino, gli orsi di Bordalo scalano i muri di San Salvario”, 10 July 2017. Photo story credited to Francesca Lai.
- TOlove: the bear of Teatro Colosseo, 19 January 2025. Local guide with photographs and the address.
Street Art Utopia
- Street Art Utopia: They Almost Moved (8 Photos), 19 October 2026. The SAU post with this photo.
Artwork File · Last checked 19 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files